Yet she multiplied her obscene practices, remembering the days of her youth, when she prostituted herself in the land of Egypt.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yet she multiplied her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth, in which she had played the prostitute in the land of Egypt.
- KJV Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
- BSB Yet she multiplied her promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth, when she had prostituted herself in the land of Egypt
- NKJV “Yet she multiplied her harlotry In calling to remembrance the days of her youth, When she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
- NLT Yet she turned to even greater prostitution, remembering her youth when she was a prostitute in Egypt.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Rather than repenting, Judah intensified her unfaithfulness, looking back nostalgically to her idolatry in Egypt. It shows how sin, left unchecked, deepens rather than diminishes.
Overview
Instead of being warned by Samaria's fall, Judah 'multiplied' her prostitution, romanticizing her earlier bondage in Egypt where Israel had been spiritually corrupted. The reference to 'the days of her youth' recalls the nation's origins and the idols she had absorbed there. This backward longing for slavery mirrors the wilderness generation's grumbling and exposes the heart's bent toward bondage rather than its Redeemer.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ezek 23:3They played the prostitute in Egypt. They played the prostitute in their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their youthful nipples were caressed there.
- Ezek 16:25You have built your lofty place at the head of every way, and have made your beauty an abomination, and have opened your feet to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your prostitution.
- Ezek 23:21Thus you called to memory the lewdness of your youth, in the caressing of your nipples by the Egyptians because of your youthful breasts.
- Ezek 16:29You have moreover multiplied your prostitution to the land of merchants, to Chaldea; and yet you weren’t satisfied with this.
- Ezek 16:51Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all your abominations which you have done.
- Ezek 20:7I said to them, ‘Each of you throw away the abominations of his eyes, and don’t defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.’
- Ezek 23:14“She increased her prostitution; for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion,
- Ezek 23:8She hasn’t left her prostitution since leaving Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her. They carressed her youthful nipples; and they poured out their prostitution on her.
- Amos 4:4“Go to Bethel, and sin; to Gilgal, and sin more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days,
- Ezek 16:22In all your abominations and your prostitution you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were wallowing in your blood.
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 23:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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